The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-04-13

with some of the most conservative repre-
sentatives of the Grand Army, agreed upon
the bill in question. It met a necessity. 1t
was found that in every community are
some soldiers, now beyond middle life, who
are reduced to 'destitution and depend
ence, who cannot trace their disability di-
rectly to the war, and who, therefore, can
not now get pension. Many of these are
brave men who have not the proof of hos
pital record, because they kept in the field
and would not give up. Some, no doubt,
are undeserving But most of them are oh
jects of deserved sympathy. Every Grand
Army post is supporting two or three or half
a dozen. Some are in poor-houses Some
go to our state Soldiers Home in Chelsea.
They cannot, 1 think, go into our national
homes, because not now reasonable. Some
are aided by our Massachusetts system of
state aid, which right here in Massachusetts
is recognition and Endorsement, to the
tune of not less than $500 600 a year, of the
very principle of this bill. The committees
following President Cleveland's recommen-
dalton and with the full concurrence of the
commissioner of pensions, reported this bill
to cover just these cases. of course if it
had become law some would have abused
1t. But again | ask, is there any man or
woman here who would, as an act of judg-
ment and conscience, refuse to assent to il?
] certainly could not, although till l care
fully studied it | supposed there was some
thing in the Presidents objections.
"These objections were two. First, an
erroneous and forced Interpretation of the
bill which no lawyer, nor Judge, nor COM
missioner charged with its execution would
dare hold for moment; and, second, the
cost But before | touch the cost, look
for moment at the contemporaneouS Mex
lean pension BILL which the President
signed with alacrity and which is in every
respect far more Objectionable | think he
did right to sign it. | was one of those who
voted for it. | have always believed that
nan gt.tN Il gs,v
soldiers who peril their lives for their coun-
try. 1t is universally admitted principle
that at first, while the survivors are young
and self-supporting, they are pensioned
sparingly. Later the list is extended to
those who are in need or restitution for
other causes. And last those who
are under the in6rmity of advanced
age. This has been the rule in our
country. BY President Clevelands act it
now applies to the Mexican soldiers, and it
will, in due time, apply no doubt to the
Union soldiers. The Mexican act gives
pension to every soldier of the Mexican
war-a war utterly indefensible and infa-
nous in its inception and purposes, how
ever valuable in its resuts-who is over
sixty-two years old, whether sick or well,
rich or poor, patriot or traitor, and to every
other who is disabled or dependent. 1t
pensions men who, after the Mexican war,
took up arms in 1861 to destroy the govern
ment which now pensions them 1t is
stretch of magnanimity unparalleled, and 1
voted for it all the more cordially on that
account. But think for moment of voting
for or signing such bill and at the same
time refusing pension to soldier who
never had drop of traitor blood in his
heart, who risked his life for the Union,
who went from Baltimore to the Apo
mattox in the hottest war ever waged, and
who is to-day sick, destitute, dependent
and totally unable to procure his subsist-
ence by his daily toll The bare statement
is enough, and | have never made it to any
critic who has not replied that of course
such cases ought to be provided for by
government which has more revenue than
it can use. And yet the clause | have read
to you made that provision and nothing
more. That is why the whole republican
Massachusetts delegation voted for the bill.
L followed Judgment which | long ago
formed and expressed. have not believed
| that even twenty-five years after the war
! the time has yet come for the Lowering bill.
have not inclined to paying further arrears
Of pensions, for the nature of a pension is
present help, and the best evidence of when
such pension is required is when it is
asked for. Why, then, add to the monthly
allowance when asked for an accumulation
for long period of years when nothing was
asked for? But have long felt and said
! that when a deserving soldier-your neigh
! Dor or mine, who went to the war when you
and did not-is reduced to restitution, it is
! the duty, not of his surviving comrades,
themselves often poor, not of the town with
! its poor-houses, but of the government he
served and saved, to aid him.
This is all so plain that there is really
| but one argument against the bill, and that
| is the cost involved. Argument against it
has been attempted on the ground of the
chance of abuse and frauds But that is a
matter of administration and not of princi-
pie. You might as well argue against gov
eminent itself because it carries abuses and
frauds. But the cost is a fair argument 1t
demands prudent consideration. If ruin
Gus we ought not to incur it,, although one
can hardly think of a case where the cost
should weigh less than in meeting the just
! claims of the countrys defenders. Re-
member, however, that all these pensions
are not a separate and newly-arisen expen-
diture. They are part of the cost of the
war of the rebellion, and date back to it as
much as the tive-twenty bonds, and must
| be met as honestly as any other portion of
the public debt without distinction (and
there is something here to be thought of in
these days. between the money which the
rich man lent and the life which the poor
man risked. Remember also that these
pensions are the fulfllment of the general
| promise of gratitude which we made our
soldiers when they enlisted and which
will operate in any future need as an
Indictment to prompt service, just as the
payment of our financial obligations will
inure to our financial credit.
All tHeSe Considerations WOulu make us
ready to incur large cost, but, after all,
would the cost of this bill be anything like
the exaggerated figures urged by those who
oppose il? 1t is generally said that there
were 100000 enlistments in the war, or
allowing for re-enlistments, about 100000
individual soldiers. 1t is said also that
100000 now survive. OF these, more than
100000 are already on the pension list The
question of cost turns on the proportion of
these survivors who would come under the
bill as totally disabled to procure their sub
siStence. The commissioner of pensions,
on careful inquiry, estimates the number in
poor-houses at 5000. The pension COM
mittee multiplied this by three and reckoned
that y 900, as a large estimate, would
come under the bill This, at Sl2 a month,
would amount to a little less than S4,OOO,OOO
year. Bear in mind that no commissioner
of pensions would dare interpret the law
other than strictly.
4" But a better estimate can be made by
looking about your own towns and going
into your own Grand Army posts. Are
there five in every 100 of your own resident
soldiers under not partial, but total, inability
TO earn subsistence? If so, then at five per
cent there would be 30 600 out of the 100000
unpensioned survivors and an annual cost
of 5000, 600, or the revenue of the govern
ment for five days. But double this esti-
mate to 10000 men who would come under
the bill, and the sum rises to Sl0,000,000. But
in what community are ten per cent of the
surviving soldiers totally disabled and OBJ
jects of public charity?
-